BumpInTheNight:FacePalm.jpg. I'm not sure how else to express my opinion on this one.

/it would be doublefacepalm.jpg had it managed to detonate, especially when the guard shook it

One day, while stationed overseas, I was in a building fixing some guys printer for him. Unknown to us, a suspicious package had been left on the front porch of the base chapel two buildings down. Unknown package + church on an American military base + predominantly muslim country = evacuating the area. However, the building we were in had thich enough walls that we could not hear the loudspeaker and the guys sent around to check that everyone had gotten out somehow skipped over our door.

So I get this guys stuff back working, and I head back to my office. As I'm walking around the corner of the chapel, I find myself six feet away from a guy in full-on michelin man looking bomb disposal gear. He kicked the suitcase, then looked up at me and said: "You might wanna get out of here".

Turns out a girl rotating back to the states filled a suitcase with some clothes she didn't want to pack and tried to donate them - but didn't tell anybody and just dropped them off. It was quite funny to come back after they blew it in place and see bits and piece of panties laying on the ground. IIRC, a few of them were the ones with days of the week written on the ass.

Anyway, shaking it might actually be part of the SOP for potential explosive devices.

I ran a demo of some high-tech equipment for a major city in CA not too long ago. One of the sensors was a breadbox-sized black case with a stub antenna and blinking LED, which we had to leave (briefly) right outside the main door to City Hall.

As an early dev model, it wasn't labeled, so it did look a little ominous, but we tucked it behind a hedge & only had to leave it unattended for about 5 minutes, so the city EM figured it would be OK.

3 minutes into the presentation, in a room full of top-level city employees, a security guard opens the door, leans in & says "anyone know what this is?" as he holds the box up for everyone to see. He'd personally carried it inside, through a metal detector and past two security gates.